I tried piecemealing for next year and while I saved a little money, it wasn't worth it. The only books I already owned or found used were already inexpensive anyway. The majority of the books were not available and/or cheaper elsewhere. The 10% discount and free shipping for a year on everything is very valuable.

Congrats! That is an amazing accomplishment.

I'm racking my brain. ???

This is my second year homeschooling. We used MFW last year and SL this year. Sonlight is a much better fit. The books are just wonderful and I LOVE sitting down and getting to work rather than spending time trying to find all the books and materials that I was supposed to find to use with the MFW curriculum. We do not have a close or a good library and owning ALL the books we need it a much better fit. I was completely overwhelmed the first time I saw Sonlight's IG's. Now that I am actually using them, I see that they are simple to use. We did not like SL's LA and have just switched to AAS, ETC, FLL and WWE. I have loved the one year of free shipping I got from purchasing a core as well. Sonlight has triggered a love of reading in me as well. I've read more books myself in the last 6 months than I did the previous 10 years since college.

I love how HWT teaches how to write and how to hold a pencil, angle your paper, form the letters. It definitely is designed to work for lefties too.

We recently started AAS. Be prepared for a lot of card separating when you get your materials. It was like a craft project. LOL

My 1st grader is struggling with reading and is working on book 1 material. She has just started with Explode the Code online which we really like. She likes the feedback she gets and that she can type instead of write where needed. I love that it automatically adjusts to her level and it makes it easy for me to make sure she is getting consistent practice.

This is intriguing to me. I had never considered teaching cursive first. Do you go back and teach printing later?

Wow. This is just amazing.

Your numbers so far are completely fine so there's a good chance that you don't have GD or if you do that your current diet is good. I had GD with all three children. I met with a nutritionist who gave me suggestions. I found I had to have two eggs in the morning or I would get higher numbers. The key is limiting carbs, especially white flour, rice, and sugar, and eating protein with the carbs you do eat. Testing after meals can help you determine what works best for you; different people react differently to different meals.

I've seen several people mention teaching cursive writing first. Why have you chosen to do this? Has it worked well for your child? Did you go back to teaching printing later?

I really like the Kumon workbooks for this age. However, my second child wants to do exactly what her big sister is doing so for things that allow copying, I copy a page for her too even if she's not ready to do it "correctly." I bought her the preschool HWT to be like her big sister. And as much as possible I let her participate in what we are doing.

Hi! Soddy Daisy, TN homeschooler here, just a little north of Chattanooga.

I agree that A, B, and C need some additional explanation, but the others don't. The books are great, but I recently learned that ETC has all their material in an interactive online format which my dd and I are loving so far. I bought through homeschoolbuyerscoop since subscriptions are cheaper in quantity.